I Choose To Stand

Recently, I'm sure we've all heard quite a bit about SOPA and PIPA, the two bills in the House and Senate that have been aimed at stopping Internet piracy and I have to say honestly that the idea behind both these bills is solid and commendable. I admire the concept if not the implementation or the broad and general wording of the Two Bills which would amount to little more than a stifling of some of the most brilliant ideas to come from out of the exquisite chaos that is this thing we call human existence.



We humans are an eclectic bunch and it is out of that same hodge podge of imperfection that one of the greatest triumphs of ingenuity and eccentric design has stemmed: The Internet. The Internet is a miracle of different ideas, speculations, creativity, understanding, wisdom, bigotry, stupidity, ignorance, compassion, advice, gossip and a million other descriptive words I will not name here simply for the enormity of the task involved. I'm not that crazy. The point is that the Internet is one of our greatest creations as the human race and what a creation it is! There is no other way that someone in America can make fast and sure connections with people all over the world and build life long relationships with anyone on the globe without ever setting eyes on them.



It occurs to me that the ideals I've been taught from a tender young age, no older than a child, are ideals that I can practice on social networking sites and the number one ideal of which I speak is simple: Don't judge a person by what they look like, but by the content of their character. The line from the Aerosmith song, "Livin' On The Edge," comes to mind when Steven Tyler sang, "If you can judge a wise man by the color of his skin, then mister you're a better man than I." That line and that song have stayed with me for more than half my life and such simple wisdom was made popular on the Internet. Right now, anyone in America can go on to YouTube and find Aerosmith and their songs along with thousands of their favorite artists and bands and if they see a cute video of a kid that a proud parent uploaded well, they can laugh and go, "Awww," right along with the rest of us and share it on Facebook. I have to ask, is this sharing not what we were taught from the time we were old enough to lay claim to what we decided belonged to us? Are all our lives not enriched by grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and everyone else being able to share in the growth of a family from across the nation? Are we not able to adapt our own point of view to include another's simply because they made a valid point on their own blog and we felt it deserved greater attention and thought?



I love being able to see pictures of friends from across the world on whom I've never laid eyes but still love as if they were family. Are we all not one big family sharing a world and does the Internet not bring us closer as a family? Crazies, free thinkers, cerebrals, intellectuals, dreamers, realists, pessimists, optimists, lovers, fighters, idiots and weirdos, we're all different and we are all human and we all contribute to our global society and that's exactly as it should be.



Now in America, the Two Bills seek to make it difficult for us to do what we do best and that is to be ourselves and make our voices heard and that is unacceptable and unfair. I feel that I speak with, not for but with, both Americans and humans as a people and a race, the race of mankind when I say that the Internet belongs to us all. It belongs to the Human Race and we share it without qualm or bickering. We share it like the family we all are. We watch each others kids grow up and we share advice and wisdom from across the globe. We share our triumphs and our victories as much as we share our mistakes and our foibles. We laugh at our own stupidity as quickly as we laugh at the stupidity of others and that's exactly as it should be. Therefore, I have to say WE THE PEOPLE though not in an exclusively American context, but in the context of WE THE PEOPLE on a Global level, don't want our brain child and our creation damaged or wounded and censorship of the Internet is an insult and a wound. Leave OUR Internet alone. It doesn't belong to the select few, it belongs to all of us which means all of us need to consent to alter it in any way and we don't agree.



Listen to your people because this is, after all, about what WE THE PEOPLE want and what we don't want is Corporate policing of the beautiful disaster (well said, Dragon) that is our Internet. It's ours and belongs to no one individual or entity to control. Everyone shares and loves the net and no one will abide by monied control, no matter how much is involved. We The People have spoken and it's time that the Governing body, set in place FOR us and WITH our consent, listens very carefully. The net is OURS, not yours. Keep your hands off our Internet. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do you really trust Corporate policing to be fair when placed hand in hand with Corporate greed? I know I don't.





UPDATE: SOPA and PIPA were DROPPED by Congress!!! For more information, please go to Free Book Reviews and read on from there...